[consulting] DrupalCOM: european Small Business distro

[Dan Robinson]

Thank GOD! - you are my hero!

>Hello,
>
>Quite a while, already i have maintained a local configuration and patches of 
>Drupal, which I called drupalCOM. We are reviving this, and I would like some 
>feedback.
>
>I would love to hear from you people how you think a drupal for small 
>enterprises should look. I am aiming at those brochure sites, mostly in 
>Europe (multilinual!). 
>
>I want to re-think this and not look at it from a technical point, but just 
>make a list of what is needed functionality wise, rather then what modules 
>should we have, what must a theme do etc. please keep this in mind when 
>adding your ideas: I do not want to talk about modules, themes, what 
>can-be-configured-how, etc.
>
>(also look at http://drupal.org/node/31896)
>
>* Able to add hierarchical data, to gather usefull articles etc (about, route, 
>prices, philosophy etc)
>* Able to add and remove single pages in a simple menu (about us, etc)
>* Maintain a few lists with articles, for products or services
>* Maintain a list of recent articles (blogs, news), with a configurable date.
>* Simple managment of one or two custom blocks. 
>* Simple, single, contact form, possibly with saving feedback on-site.
>* Search
>* Each artilce and page has a coounterpart in another language.
>* Simple image managment in two ways:
> ** add fancy images to about us pages, to contact forms etc. (aka, learn the 
>f*ing HTML, with a simple upload system) 
> ** Add simple pre-styled images to news/products. (like image module)
>* Clear and transparant admin/moderation interface. 
>  
>
In short I think that a summary of the above would be to say "impose a
'simple' information architecture (IA) and navigational context (menus)
for a 'brochure' website" - the IA is a simple hierarchy and some
blocks.  I should be able to "declare" something like the following -

Home
Our Services
    Strategy
    Marketing
    Technology Consulting
Customers
   Government
        Education
        Services
    Telecom
        Wireless
         POTS
Team
   Board
   Investors
   Employees
News
[login]

Once that is done I should have a site with menus - DONE

This by the way is a Joomla killer imho (tm).

>It is also good to note what should NOT be included: 
>* Login / advanced user management (log in for moderateors only)
>* Comments, forums, trackers and other tipical community ware
>* User/post/date details on various pages, including in search!
>* Moderation qeues, promoted entries, and other community-centric workflows.
>
>Now the funny thing with all this is: its so darn simple!. It is so simple, 
>that drupal cannot do it! 
>
of course it can (and you know it!) - you just have to know far more
Drupal than you should have to to make it happen.  I have more comments
and opinions - but who cares? - can we do something like the above
really quick?  Pretty please.....

>Drupal adds complexity all over the place. And most 
>often the biggest bulk of the work lies in getting rid of that complexity and 
>getting rid of all these pages, links, read-counters, attachement-lists, 
>user-profiles, post-dates, and what more. 
>  
>
>And yes, i have heard this too: Drupal is probably not the best app to do 
>this, since it is aimed at communities. But there is no proper alternative. 
>Quoting Boris:  Drupal s*cks least. The other good part about Drupal is that, 
>if a client decides she wants all this, but also a forum, its there!
>
>Please give mee feedback on what you people think would be wrong and / or 
>different in this? Or what you are missing.
>
>  
>